Former deputy prime minister, Arthur Dion Hanna Sr., “one of the earliest and most persistent advocates of the country’s independence, has been appointed Governor General, the Cabinet Office announced yesterday.
Mr. Hanna will replace Acting Governor General, Paul Adderely, who has served in the position since December 2005, following the retirement of Dame Ivy Dumont.
The swearing-in ceremony for Mr. Hanna is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Government House.
“The personification of patriotism and integrity in public life, Mr. Hanna occupies a position of singular importance in the modern history of The Bahamas,” according to a statement released on Monday.
Mr. Hanna was deputy prime minister and government leader in the House of Assembly from 1967 – 1984, and a member of parliament from 1960 – 1992.
“Mr. Hanna is, by common acclaim, the foremost founding father of the nation still alive today,” according to the statement. “He was one of the earliest and most persistent advocates of independence and played a leading role in bringing national sovereignty to reality in 1973.”
The statement also pointed to his role in the struggle for political empowerment and social justice that culminated in the attainment of Majority Rule in 1967, “a struggle in which Mr. Hanna played a leading and courageous part.”
“Mr. Hanna also enjoys a position of unique historical importance because of his close association with the instrument of state policy that came to be known in the late 1960s as Bahamianization,” said the statement.
“Indeed, more than any other personality alive or dead, it was Mr. Hanna who was the principal architect and prime mover of this policy that played such a critical part in ensuring the systematic elevation of Bahamians to positions of leadership in all spheres of the national economy and in the public service.”
Mr. Hanna, according to the statement, is also known as one of the “pre-eminent figures in the shaping of the modern Bahamas for the passionate concern for the poor and underprivileged that always informed his political and social philosophy – a philosophy poignantly encapsulated in that most famous of all his sayings: ‘To wipe every tear from every eye’.”
A native of Pompey Bay, Acklins, Mr. Hanna was born March 7, 1928 to Mr. And Mrs. Joseph Albert Hanna.
He attended the Government High School and following graduation pursued legal studies in England, earning a LLB from the University of Bristol.
He was called to the English Bar by the Inner Temple and in 1955 was admitted to the Bahamas bar as counsel and attorney.
Mr. Hanna was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1960 in a bye-election and won re-election seven times in the general elections of 1962, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1977, 1982 and 1987.
In 1987, he was the only candidate returned to the House of Assembly unopposed. Until he lost his seat in the 1992 general election, Mr. Hanna had served in parliament continuously for 32 years.
In 1967, following the attainment of Majority Rule, Mr. Hanna was appointed deputy prime minister, a position he held without interruption until his resignation from the cabinet in 1984.
During his tenure as a member of the cabinet, Mr. Hanna successively held ministerial portfolios, most notably as Minister of Education, Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister of Home Affairs (with responsibility for immigration), and Minister of Finance (with added responsibility for the public service).
Mr. Hanna is married to the former Beryl Church, who, in her own right is widely admired for her “unswerving and courageous commitment to the struggle for political and social justice, especially in the years preceding the attainment of Majority Rule,” according to the statement.
They have four surviving children, Arthur Dion Jr., Mark Lindsay, Glenys Hanna-Martin and Dawn Victoria. They were pre-deceased by another son, Sean David.
Source: The Bahama Journal
